


in the first place

by cinderlily



Series: two thousand miles from all I know [1]
Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Cruise Ship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-30
Updated: 2014-05-30
Packaged: 2018-01-27 02:50:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1712240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cinderlily/pseuds/cinderlily
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Patrick went on a cruise with his family.</p>
            </blockquote>





	in the first place

**Author's Note:**

> So... this is the first time I've written in this fandom. Con-crit is totally welcome. Title is from an Eric Hutchinson song that I listened to while writing. 
> 
> Thank you thank you to fromiftowhen (on Tumblr and LJ!) for the hand holding and helping. <3 (All mistakes are still TOTALLY all me.)

It’d taken three nights on the ship to get out of the grasp of family obligation and an hour of convincing Erica that he’d seen too much sun and booze to go out, but as Patrick slipped out onto the flat ice he let out a contented sigh.

“The rink’s closed.”

He jerked around to find a guy standing at the entrance to the ice with crossed arms. Were it not for the furrowed brow and tight lips Patrick would call the guy attractive. Broad shoulders, floppy brown hair, he was more or less his type. Not that he should actually flirt when he was in a room that was connected to his sisters’ room but he had eyes.

“I won’t tell if you don’t.” And okay, maybe he was flirting just a bit when he waggled his eyebrows. Maybe this guy had a room that WASN’T connected to blood relatives.

The guy simply unfolded his arms and pointed to a shiny name tag that read ‘Jonathan’ and underneath, ‘Skate instructor’ with a tiny Canadian flag beside it. 

Patrick laughed holding up both hands. “Guess I’m caught.”

‘Jonathan’ looked him up and down with intense enough focus that Patrick had to admit it was kind of hot. “You brought your own skates on a cruise?”

“Heh,” he felt himself blush but shrugged. “Occupational hazard.”

Not even looking slightly impressed, Jonathan switched from one foot to the other, and something caught Patrick’s eyes.

“Wait, you’ve got your skates on you hypocrite. You’re not patrolling to keep the sanctity of this ice or whatever. You came to skate too.”

“I’m here from 8 to 4 teaching geriatrics and five year olds how not to fall on their asses, I like having a little time for me on the ice.”

He saw his point. “Well I’m not stopping you. Go on and skate.”

“I like to skate by myself.”

“Haven’t you heard the customer’s always right?”

“You aren’t my customer.”

“Do I need to sign up for lessons or something?”

Cause he might be willing to pay some money if he could just get on-ice time. Not like he’d actually show up, but whatever. How much could a lesson be, even with the ridiculous cruise inflation?

“Usually people with their own skates don’t need lessons,” Jonathan hesitated, rubbed at the back of his neck then added. “Especially those with Stanley Cups.”

Patrick ducked his head and felt himself go a little brighter shade of red. He felt ridiculous. Why the hell was he embarrassed about this guy knowing his job? He wasn’t recognized much outside of certain settings but he was on the ice after all and if this guy liked skating he had a decent chance of knowing hockey.

“So you guys get that, then,” he tried for casual. “Sports on the ship? Cause all my room gets is like three movie channels and that channel with an addicting view of the ocean in front of the ship.” 

Jonathan shook his head. “I wish, I get to catch up when we’re on land. Caught the final in a bar in Jamaica.” 

“Here’s to hoping you aren’t a Bruins fan.” 

“No man, I’ve got standards.” 

Patrick laughed. “See, I like you already Jonathan. How about you let me skate for a while? I’ll be quiet, you’ll get your own time and nobody will know any better.” 

“Jonny,” he corrected. 

“Well then, _Jonny_. I’m Patrick. Wanna skate?” 

His answer was to push off from the wall he’d been against and to skate towards the center of the rink. When he wasn’t looking Patrick pumped one fist in the air and followed behind. They skated around in lazy circles and even though he would kill for a puck and stick, he found it was just nice to be on the ice with the guy. 

“How long have you been on this boat?” Patrick finally broke the silence, despite his assurance he wouldn’t.

Jonny didn’t seem to mind at least, and skated up to follow at his side. “The Voyager? Four months. I was on the Explorer before this.” 

“When was the last time you lived on actual land?” 

“Like a year?” he shrugged. 

“Don’t you miss like… real food and wifi that doesn’t cost an obscene amount and… like. A steady bed?” 

“I just needed an escape.”

“And working on a rink in the middle of the sea is how you escape?” 

“Except for the occasional intruder on the ice,” he joked but looked away with a frown. “Could be worse.” 

Patrick didn’t like the look on the guys face. He cleared his throat and reached for a subject change. “Sounds like you’ve got pretty high standards there, Jonny.” 

The lame joke was worth it for the smile it brought back. “Oh yeah, haven’t had a major injury yet this cruise.”

“What, the whole four days we’ve been at sea?” 

Jonny half smiled and, turning to skate backwards a little, put his hands out in an obvious mimic of earlier. “Guess I’m caught.” 

Patrick scoffed, “Jerk.” 

“I live to serve,” he said with a slight flourish of one hand and a nod.

Either the guy was a total freaking jackass or… there was no ‘or’. The guy was a jackass, and if his half smile was any indication he was totally aware of it. Patrick resisted a grin and instead returned the nod.

A familiar voice came from behind him. “Are you KIDDING me?”

Patrick turned around to see his sister standing just off ice with both hands on her hips.

“Ah, you found me. Awesome.”

“ _Patriiiiick_ , we’re on this trip to get drunk and hang out, not for you to skate,” she rolled her eyes. “Tell me this isn’t why we didn’t go Disney.”

He ignored her and turned back to see Jonny. “Uh. Guess I gotta jet. Thanks for not calling the cruise cops or whatever.”

As he stepped off the ice he turned to catch Jonny watching and quickly turned back to usher his sister towards the hallway out. 

Erica waited till they were just out of hearing range and hip checked him. “He’s cute.”

“Shut up,” he responded and nudged her back.

“Hey!” she stumbled a bit to the side. “I’ll tell mom.”

“And I’ll tell her what time you got to the room last night.”

Erica poked her tongue out to the side. “Come on, let’s go see if we can beat my record.”

Patrick found a bench and sat down to take off his skates. “Naw, I think I might actually go to bed. Gotta get up early.” 

“Like you’re actually getting up early.”

“I kind of have to,” he smiled and looked back even though it wasn’t like he could see anything down the hall. “I’ve got skating lessons.”


End file.
